Help Us Build A Dog Park!

Hi everyone!

I want to talk to you about someone who's very near and dear to this little pink heart of mine: my firstborn son, Watson, our 2-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback. We pride ourselves on being responsible pet owners and for the past two years, we've been driving, an hour roundtrip, 3-5 times a week, to Richmond, where we take Watson to the nearest dog park. Unfortunately, there are currently no off-leash dog parks nearby. And just as other people enjoy the convenience of public swimming pools, jogging trails, golf courses, and playgrounds, we dog owners need a place to exercise and enjoy our pets in an off-leash, clean, and safe environment.

WatsonSuch a facility would benefit our community in so many ways:

1) It promotes responsible pet ownership. Most dogs require exercise that leash restrictions do not permit. Dogs are social animals whose overall health is improved by regular interaction with people and other dogs. Happy, healthy dogs are calmer and more well-behaved, reducing nuisances such as barking, aggression, and other behavioral problems exhibited by idle and/or non-socialized dogs.

2) It fosters positive community-building and networking opportunities by providing an environment for social interaction for people, as well as their pets. There are so many families here that would greatly benefit by having the opportunity to connect with people who share a common interest, and create a lasting, social network.

3) Dog park patrons tend to be people who appreciate the park and take an "ownership interest" in it. As a result, they keep the area clean and free of criminal activities and other negative elements.

The Fort Lee housing office has been promising its residents a dog park for the past two years, so I've created this petition to urge them to start progress on it. Won't you help me?

Please sign the petition here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/petition-for-a-fort-lee-dog-park

If you want to stay in the loop on our progress, "like" our facebook page here:

http://facebook.com/fortleedogpark

Please help us spread the word by sharing these links with whomever you think would support our cause! Thanks so much for your support!

2010, In Retrospect

There is no denying it. 2010 was the best year of my life, thus far. So 2011 had better BRING IT. And just to illustrate the undeniable awesomeness that was 2010, here's a quick recap of how it all went down:

January through March was spent living in Japan (See? Already 2010 has hit the ground running). Husband and I were immersed in a whole new and beautiful culture, complete with some spectacular sushi (but only for the first week, unfortunately... more on that in a bit), mixed martial arts, living in the lap of luxury, and live music every night of the week. By night, I sang and played piano to an audience filled with beautiful, warm, and fun-loving Japanese people who requested "Tiny Dancer" and "Piano Man" one too many times for my short attention span (I mean, seriously, Sir Elton, a 6-minute song? And are all those verses really necessary, Billy?), while Husband studied Japanese Shooto and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at a Yuki Nakai dojo. By day, we explored, got lost, found our way, met some amazing people, ate entirely too well, learned key Japanese phrases, and generally lived the international rockstar life.

Eating sushi! In Japan! What!

Do What You Love. Love What You Do.

Paraestra Hakata Yuki Nakai DojoOn one particular excursion, we visited the Dazaifu Shrine and prayed that God would bless us with a child.

Can you spot our wish?Then, on February 1st, all sushi-indulging came to a glorious halt:

Holy moly, we're makin' a baby!

Then we returned to the States in April and announced our BIG NEWS (keeping it under wraps for the first trimester was killing us, but we wanted to spill the beans in person).

Also in April, we welcomed a new (four-legged) member to our family, our beloved Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy, Watson.

Watson, 9 weeks old

In May, we found out our little Eggroll was a girl. Then we packed up our bags and moved to Virginia for Adam's 6-month-long Army Captain Career Course, where I officially became an Army wife again.

Bu-bye Nashville! Hello, Richmond!

Happy Baby Girl!

June began the triple whirlwind of baby arrivals in the Woodhouse family with the birth of my beautiful niece, Eleanor:

Eleanor Angeline (aka Bean)

Also in June, I started a new business selling my artwork on Etsy. I never thought my idle time would become quite lucrative. 

July and August were full of settling in, summer road trips, Virginia expeditions, puppy-training, as well as an Asian-inspired baby shower for Eggroll, thrown by my uber-stylish sisters.

oh yeah. that's lumpia. booyah!

Also in August, we found our church home, after 5 months of searching.

And on the music career front, peppered all throughout 2010 was a lot of TV song placements, in a bunch of trashy reality TV shows, like Jersey Shore, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Bad Girls Club, The Hills, et al. I don't watch the stuff, and even if I did, I wouldn't admit it. But I totally don't. And I'll still gladly accept the check, thankyouverymuch. Besides, it was pretty cool to hear my song "Rearview" on the Starbucks commercial during the MTV Movie Awards, though. 

In September we stumbled upon a used (new to us) truck. We'd been searching and planning and saving for awhile, knowing that once Eggroll arrived in October, our 'want' would very quickly become a 'need.' On Labor Day weekend, we were out kicking tires, with no intention to buy, when our new truck pretty much fell into our laps. We were on our way out the door when the GM of the Ford dealership asked us what it would take to put us in a new truck today. Without hesitation, Adam named our price and the GM showed us a truck they'd just gotten in last night. It was so brand new to their lot that they hadn't even had a chance to clean it up yet. So we took a quick look at it, previous owners crap and miscellany in it and all, and instantly knew it was THE ONE. It was exactly what we were looking for and the price was actually $5k lower than what we were willing to spend, so it was a done deal. Talk about a Godsend. 

In October we moved from our tiny 900 square foot apartment into a brand new 1600 square foot house, just in time to welcome Evelyn Reese into the world. Um, hello perfect timing? Yes, please. And meeting Evie and becoming a mother? Absolutely the most amazing thing that's happened to me in the history of all-time. Ever.

Then two weeks later, the baby trilogy was complete when my new handsome nephew, Kingsley William was born. My parents were over the moon about getting THREE new grand-babies in the same year! Craziness! We do make some good-lookin' babies, right?

Evelyn Reese (aka Eggroll)

Kingsley William (aka Pele... y'know, the soccer player)

In November, we traveled down to Atlanta and spent a lovely Thanksgiving with Adam's parents. Also in November, we all puffed up our chests in proud admiration of my youngest sister, Maia, for passing the New York Bar Exam (as if there were any doubt).

December was full of cheery holiday chaos as we hosted Christmas at our house for the very first time. Christmas dinner was a hit with Adam's deep-fried turkey.

And just when I thought 2010 couldn't get any more perfect, it goes and does this: silver white winter perfection.

Watson the Snowpuppy!

So to re-cap: 2010 was chock-full of new and exciting beginnings. New country, new puppy, new career (for Husband), new business (for me), new state, new house, new church, new niece and nephew, new truck, and of course, best of all, brand new baby! So many incredible blessings.

Alright, 2011, you better BRING IT!

Dog Days of Summer

Last weekend we took a road trip to Virginia Beach. Watson's brother, Scrappy lives there, so we were able to drop by for a play date while passing through. After about an hour of sibling play time, we hit the beach. It was Watson's first beach experience and he had a ball. He was so funny to watch as he played in the tide, rolled around in the sand, and generally entertained everyone on the beach. Rhodesian Ridgebacks don't typically like the water, but it turns out our little boy loves it! Who'd have guessed...

Watson and his brother, Scrappy, wrestle

Scrappy and Watson play tug-o-war

All played out... for now.

"Hi, Mom!"

Watson's first beach trip!

Running off to play in the tide

Watson has a ball, delights onlookers

Our little family

Beach bum

DIY: Entryway Bench (Subtitled: I Can't Believe I Actually Built Something!)

We try to enforce a no-shoe policy at our house, which makes our entryway look like a perpetual train wreck. Not a pretty site. So we're in need of some shoe storage. Adam offered to hit up Target for a shoe rack, but I wanted something, oh I don't know, not hideous. And left to his own devices, my sweet Husband would have come home with this:

or this (he says it could hang easily over our front door). Let me let that one sink in for a second...
This:

would be hanging on the back of our front door. Now, granted, we live in a rental at the moment and our foyer is, by no stretch, fancy-schmancy (it's basically a long hallway leading to the front door), but seriously? Slap yourself.

But then again, this is coming from a man who thinks this is suitable adult furniture:

 

Oh, bless his stupid heart. It's up to me to show him the error of his bachelor-pad ways. And so began the search for an entryway bench. Unfortunately, everything that fit my criteria gave me sticker shock. While any of these would have looked lovely in my foyer, it certainly wasn't my-kind-of-lovely at a whopping $399. Oh Pottery Barn, you're pure evil (by the way, I don't know about you, but I definitely need a monkey fist and a basket full of seashells handy and easily accessible)...

Pottery Barn Samantha Entryway Bench

Pottery Barn Norfolk Bench

This mod beauty caught my eye:

West Elm Rolling Storage

West Elm Rolling Storage

But, at $299 a pop, it can stay right where it's at, thank you very much.

Enter Ana White of Knock-Off Wood. She's a stay-at-home mom/DIY diva in Alaska who builds her own furniture and inspires readers, like myself, to pick up a power tool for the first time, providing us with confidence and free use of her (even-a-girl-can-understand) building plans. A self-proclaimed girly-girl who can wield a compound miter saw with the best of 'em, she's a real life superhero. Spitting in the shiny, fat faces of those big absurdly-priced corporate furniture stores saying, "you want me to pay how much for MDF?! I'll build it myself, with solid wood!"

So, thanks to her plans, I set off to build my own rendition of the ridiculously-priced West Elm Rolling Storage. I altered her plans slightly, making the bench shorter so that it would fit nicely in my space (2 cubbies instead of 3). Then I headed to my friendly neighborhood hardware store and picked up some supplies (wood glue, finishing nails, etc.), including some white pine boards that I had the nice, strapping, young man at Lowe's cut for me (for free!). Now, I'm not sure if they start charging after the first several cuts, but I put this poor guy to work. When he saw my cut list, here's how it went down:

Nice, strapping, young man at Lowe's: Well, we usually make cuts so that the materials will fit into someone's car, but this... this is quite a list! But I guess if you don't own a saw..."
JWoo: Do I look like I own a saw? I don't own a saw.
NSYMAL: Well, alright then! We'll get it done for you.
JWoo: Sweet! (*insert dorky fist pump here)

If he was supposed to charge, he didn't (thank you NSYMAL!). It might have helped that I'm a) female, b) 6 months pregnant, and c) completely lost.

I happily toted my freshly-cut pine boards home and set to work. And I must give credit where credit's due. I did solicit the help of my husband, but only as a confidence booster and a little bit of muscle. Even with Ana's super easy plans in hand, I was still a little timid because I'd never built anything before in my life, so I had to have him there for moral support (and to hold some bowing boards straight while I hammered away). So I can't say I built this all by myself, but you better believe, armed with my newfound carpentry confidence, the next project will be 100% JWoo. So in a single afternoon, we went from this:

To this:

Then, after a quick sanding, priming, and coat of glossy white paint, I screwed on four swivel casters to the bottom and voila:

And of course, I couldn't resist including a couple gratuitous shots of Watson, our 4-month-old Rhodesian Ridgeback pup...

I mean, really? Who could? Just look at that handsome boy. As you can see, he's very proud of his power tool-wielding mama.

Cost Breakdown:

• Wood glue: $5.35
• Wood filler: $3.23
• 2" Finishing nails: $2.92
• 4 1x2x8 White pine boards: $8.08
• 2 1x12x8 White pine boards: $17.94
• 1 Quart of white paint & primer: $13.48
• 4 2" Industrial casters: $12.40

Total: $63.40

A far cry from West Elm's $299 price tag, right? And the cool thing is, I still have quite a bit of scrap wood left (along with the other supplies, like wood glue, filler, nails, and paint) for my next carpentry adventure. Fun times!

Now my next project will be to sew a cushion for this bench. I just bought my very first sewing machine (and I have never sewn anything before in my life), so we'll see how well this will play out... Stay tuned!

Watson the Irresistible